Vibrant woody

[Randy Stout]

This drake was imaged last week through the courtesy of Roy Van Loo.
The vernal pond is surrounded by trees, and on a sunny day the early morning light filtering through the trees can be quite striking, if the bird and the light align!

D500. 500mm f/4. ISO 560, f/4, 1/800s. Right angle finder. Auto ISO
Taken from my sled blind sitting on the edge of the pond

Post: Modest crop to level and reduce the impact of the reflection, which is always quite distorted at this low shooting angle.
No saturation or vibrancy adjustments, this is just how it was.
cleaned up eye catch light.
removed a couple of spots in water

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Randy

[David Roach]

Yep, that light is magical. Wish for the entire reflection, everything else is spot on. TFS

[Randy Stout]

David:

I do have the entire reflection, but it got increasingly distorted towards the bottom, so elected to crop it to reduce that effect. I do get the point, and if the reflection was less distorted, I would have kept it. Thanks for your input.

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Stunning light and color against that nice dark BG.

[annmpacheco]

Super nice Randy, sharp, POV, moody BG, warm light and HA... I also like the many water drops that enhance all of the colors! The BG in front of the duck has slight artifacts, easy fix. Pleasure to view.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Randy, another great low point of view. I like the light bouncing off the water reflecting onto the subject providing some rich colours, but the light looks a bit to bright when it hits the head, lower the sharpness/detail IMHO. Perhaps adjusting the exposure via a layer adjustment may help bring back more of what you captured. Something odd is happening in front of the bill in the BKG, perhaps it's what Ann mentioned earlier?

TFS
Steve

[Randy Stout]

Ann and Steve:

The "smear" in front of the bill was native to the image, I did nothing in that area. Doesn't mean I shouldn't attend to it, but it was not the result of processing.

I rather liked the spotlight effect on the head, but just my personal taste.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

The "smear" in front of the bill was native to the image, I did nothing in that area. Doesn't mean I shouldn't attend to it, but it was not the result of processing.

Thanks Randy for clarifying. If you did do something ie Gaussian blur or something else, then you may find that adding a 'hint' of noise helps and blends in with the rest of the surroundings better?

[Randy Stout]

Thanks for the tip Steve!

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

Good we have been able to exchange thoughts/advice on both images. :w3

[Chris van Rooyen]

Fantastic light, low angle and sharpness Randy. I would have liked a full reflection, but I understand that the distortion might not have worked well. What a beautiful bird!

[John Mack]

The duck really pops in that nice light with the darker background. Like the crop on this one.

[annmpacheco]

Ann and Steve:

The "smear" in front of the bill was native to the image, I did nothing in that area. Doesn't mean I shouldn't attend to it, but it was not the result of processing.

I rather liked the spotlight effect on the head, but just my personal taste.


Thanks everyone for your input.
Randy

So i looked at the "smear" and it has a ghostly look of a seal's head surfacing from beneath... Anyone else see this? Cool!!!

[dankearl]

Interesting attractive light.
My only minor nit is I wish he was looking at you and not up...

[Ivan Sjogren]

Killer light here Randy! I think you captured the duck beautifully and it looks like you got some nice details in the blacks too. I like the dark water as the bird really beacuse the star of the photo.
I don't like the composition and the crop to be honest. I think the reflection is clear enough that it feels odd to crop it out at the head. I also think the whites on the chin look to bright andwould reduce those highlights, as well as on the bill.

[Randy Stout]

Ivan:

Appreciate your point about the crop. Always a tradeoff. Here is the original with a much looser crop. Thoughts?

Randy

[Ivan Sjogren]

Thank you for posting a new crop Randy! As you say it is always fun to bounce photos with someone. I think the new version is a hundred times better, I really think this was a lift. I have no problem with the reflection or it beeing disorted. I think it elevates the photo.

I played around a bit with the photo, I hope that is okay. I'm aware that there isn't much differance anyway but I just thought it was easier to show my point by doing so. What I did is a little CW rotation, I think -0.5. I removed the bubble to the left as it was so close to the edge. I patched the BG just a tiny bit to remove the dark shadows. I reduced highlights in the horisontal white line on the chin and removed some points of black from the whites on the rest of the cheek (might need some more still). I also tried to bring some more detail out of the black on the head. Lastely I reduced the purple in the shot as I thought it was a little strong. Maybe some will think your version is better and I can understand that. I just think this looks more natural. Of course all this looks much better when applied to the RAW and not a downsized JPEG. The one thing I didn't do, but still think is needed, was to add more room above and remove an inch from below.

[Randy Stout]

Ivan:

Thanks for your detailed adjustments. My second post was really all about the crop, I didn't do any other sig. editing other than lowering the whites a bit. The whites are really bright on these guys, esp. in this strong sun, so I tend to let them be very bright, without being blown out.

Thanks again for your input! That is why BPN is such a great learning place for bird photographers.

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yep, I much prefer the full reflection included, except you could take a way a bit from below (about 1/3 off the space below the reflection), although again we going with personal preferences. Great colours. LOL at Ann's seal comment: I had to look for a while, but it eventually did appear for me as well. Now I cannot unsee it :t3.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Randy looking good - I too prefer the repost, beautiful colours and also in the lake too. Good to see lots of interest and differing versions,I think the cheek on Ivan's repost does show a little more detail.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Randy,

Just coming back to you on the RP of the FF image, apart from Ivan's good suggestions, perhaps:

- Come up from the foot a bit more
- Add a graduate filter to darken the FG which adds another bit of dimension and bolsters the tonal range in the reflection
- Reduce the Blue overall

The laptop is not ideal, so this RP is perhaps a little crude compared to when I'm back and in the PP, PS has added a few additions ie saturation/Curves, but...


I love the interaction and tweaking on BPN!

That's what makes it different. :S3:

[Randy Stout]

Thanks again, Steve, and everyone else who contributed. I think there are lots of good points made, and a variety of good options.

Cheers

Randy